


Winter Break

by Anjali_Organna



Category: Elite (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post S3, ander thinks they're all idiots, guzman is trying his best, lu has no patience for anyone, nadia is nervous!!!, omar thinks everything is hilarious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23165905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anjali_Organna/pseuds/Anjali_Organna
Summary: I promise I'll come back for you.[Nadia keeps her promises.]
Relationships: Guzmán Nunier Osuna/Nadia Shana
Comments: 7
Kudos: 185





	Winter Break

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, this isn't the fic I set out to write. Oh well. Many thanks to lissomelle and malariamonsters for happy flailing with me.

“That’s what you get for being so dramatic,” Lu says unsympathetically. “‘I promise I’ll come back for you?’ What is this, some telenovela on Netflix?”

“When I said it, I wasn’t thinking about the winter holiday break,” Nadia says. “I thought it would be longer. Besides, he started it.” She throws yet another outfit down on her bed. The long, flowing dress is newish, found in a thrift shop in East Harlem. She likes the way the muted pink contrasts with her hair. But maybe the cut isn’t very flattering?

“Hmmm, sounds like him,” Lu said, capping the bottle of red polish and blowing on her nails. Their dorm room smells of polish and acetone and it’s giving Nadia a headache. Lu peers down critically and then brightens. “Look! So much better than last time!”

Nadia spares one harried glance towards Lu’s hands. Her nails _do_ look good, which is a relief considering that one of Nadia’s first lessons to Lu about belt tightening had been to not pay for things that one can do adequately oneself. It had taken Lu much of the semester to wrap her brain around the fact that _manicures_ fall under this category.

The dress is a no-go. She picks it up again and heads back to the closet and is halted by a squawk from Lu. “No, no, you have to take that one. You look hot in it. He’ll swallow his tongue when he sees you wearing it.”

“But—”

“Don’t argue with me, Nadia, when it comes to clothes that wow boys, I know what I’m doing.” Lu stands, waving her hands in the air to dry them. “Show me what else you’re bringing.”

Twenty minutes later, Nadia’s packing is done and Lu’s nails are finally dry. Nadia shoves her suitcase to the end of her narrow bed and says, facing the wall, “I just… What if it’s different? It’s been almost half a year.”

“Maybe if you’d talked to him more over the last few months, you wouldn’t be so nervous,” Lu says, a touch of the old asperity in her tone. “He misses you. And then _I_ have to listen to him pretend everything’s fine, even though I know it’s not, and I’m not allowed to say anything about it, to either of you.”

Nadia turns around and sinks down on her bed. She smiles wryly at the other girl. “Until now, you mean.” Lu rolls her eyes but doesn’t say anything. Nadia sighs. “It’s not like I _don’t_ want to talk to him more, but we’ve both been so busy…” She hesitates, nerves churning in her gut.

Across from her, Lu raises her brows inquiringly.

“And sometimes,” Nadia says, “I feel like he’s pulling back. Like… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just making it up.” She sighs again. “Maybe it is my fault. After everything that happened at Las Encinas over the last couple years…I just wanted an opportunity to do normal things. Go to classes, practice my English, figure out what my life is now. No murder, no police, no lying. Talking to Guzmán…sometimes it brings everything back.” She flicks a glance at Lu. “You can’t tell me you don’t know how that feels.”

“Mmm,” Lu says noncommittally, shifting in her seat, but Nadia knows she’s struck a nerve. Columbia had been a fresh start for both of them, in more ways than one. Lu clears her throat. “Look, who knows if it’ll be different, but the only way you’ll find out for sure is if you do talk to him. In person.”

“But what if—”

“Nadia,” Lu interrupts, “if it is different, you’ll figure it out. Maybe it’ll turn out that you guys aren’t some forever fairytale romance after all. Maybe you’ll realize that you’re actually in love with your English TA, the one who thinks plaid tweed is a fashion statement. Maybe Guzmán will have found some freshman twit at Las Encinas who has a trust fund and the boobs to match.”

“Ugh,” Nadia says, making a face.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s never been _that_ shallow so I doubt that’s the case, but the point is, when it comes to him, you’ve been treating Columbia like an ostrich does.”

Nadia blinks. “What?”

Lu motions in frustration. “Digging your head in the sand! The last couple months have been fun but it’s time to surface, baby.”

Nadia hates it when Lu has a good point.

*

After what feels like an eternity, Samuel’s face pops up on her phone. “Nadia?” He blinks blearily at her, rubbing his eyes. “What—what time is it?”

“Samu, tell me right now, are there any trust fund twits with boobs?” she says in a rush, and then bites her lip. “That didn’t come out right.”

Samuel’s staring at her. “…What?”

She takes a deep breath. “I need you to tell me if Guzmán… If there’s been anyone else, for him, while I’ve been gone. Maybe some girl at Las Encinas, or someone at the club…?”

“Nadia…”

“Just, please, I want to know before I come home. I just need to be prepared.”

Samuel sighs. “Nadia, we’re the idiots who got expelled and now have to repeat a grade. No one’s exactly banging down on our doors, either of us.” She exhales, closing her eyes. When she opens them again, Samuel’s looking at her critically. “You’d already know this if you actually chatted with him more often. He hasn’t said anything but I know he’s halfway convinced that you’ve been swept off your feet by some American.”

“Don’t start,” Nadia says, “Lu’s already scolded me.”

“Good,” Samuel says. “You deserve it. I can’t take a piss without him double-checking to make sure I wash my hands. He’s worse than my mother.” He snorts a little to himself. “He’s worse than all of our mothers. I got a shit grade two exams ago and he yelled at me for ten minutes, and then he arranged forced study sessions every night until the next one.” Nadia laughs. Samuel grins, meeting her gaze over the connection. “I’m just saying, if _you_ were taking up more of his time, he’d be less up _my_ ass about everything.”

“Guzmán doesn’t know how not to care for the people he loves.”

“His style of caring is a little hands-on for my taste,” Samuel grumbles, but Nadia knows that he minds far less than he says. “When’s your flight?”

“Tomorrow morning, first thing.”

“Hurry up and come home.”

*

The store looks different. Nadia can’t put her finger on just what it is, and it bothers her all throughout the evening meal with Omar and her parents. “Did you move things around? Change something?”

Her father shakes his head. Her mother smiles, gently. “It’s you, Nadia. You’ve been away for so long. Your memory doesn’t match up exactly anymore.”

She feels a pang in her heart. No one had warned her about this. “Do I look different, Mama?”

Her mother wraps her arms around Nadia. “You look like my daughter, my dear love. Tell us all about New York. Did you see the Statue of Liberty?”

Later, after her parents have gone to bed, Omar turns to her after they’ve finished cleaning up the kitchen. “Tired?”

Nadia shakes her head. “I’m on New York time, remember? It feels like the afternoon to me.”

“So worldly, look at you.” Omar chucks her under the chin, grinning. “Ander just texted. He’s at the club. Would you…?”

Nadia hesitates.

He says, searching her face, “I can tell him to go home, if you want. It can just be us.” Omar’s not talking about Ander and they both know it.

Nadia shakes her head. “Let me just…do something with my face.”

Omar makes a show of inspecting her. “Yeah, you definitely should. Just a terrible, terrible situation going on here,” he says, motioning towards her and then laughs and pulls away when she tries to pinch him. “I don’t know what Guzmán’s thinking, but he’s always seemed like a screwed up young man…”

“You are such a jerk,” Nadia throws over her shoulder as she heads into her room. “I don’t know why I bothered to miss you so much.”

“You love me,” he calls after her and she shuts the door in his face.

*

Entering the club weirdly feels a bit like coming home. It’s probably a measure of how screwed up they all are, considering everything that’s happened there over the years, but for all the truly shitty moments, there were some good ones as well. Despite everything, she understands why Omar has continued to work here. It was the first place he could exist as just himself, no pretending.

The first person she sees is Ander, who wraps her up in a bear hug and lifts her off her feet. She’s thrilled when he sets her back down again and says breathlessly, “Look at you, you look so good!”

“I feel good,” he says, grinning. “Like I’m brand new.”

“He’s even been working out a little,” Omar says proudly. “The doctors are making him take it slow, but…”

“I’m teaching Omar tennis,” Ander says and Nadia laughs out loud.

“Is he as bad as I think he is?” she asks, sneaking a glance at her brother.

Ander’s smile is swift and conspiratorial. “He’s worse.”

Omar clasps his hands to his heart in mock outrage. Nadia laughs again.

“Club soda?” Omar asks her, heading toward the bar, and she nods.

In front of her, Ander shifts a little on his feet. “It’s good to see you, Nadia. You like Columbia?”

“I love it,” she says truthfully. “New York is…” She shakes her head. “It’s like no place I’ve ever known before. It’s…” She trails off as she sees Ander’s eyes focus somewhere behind her. Nadia stills.

“I’ll just..uh…go help Omar with the club soda,” Ander says, and at any other time she would have rolled her eyes at his transparency, but right now she can’t breathe, her entire attention focused elsewhere. Ander leaves and Nadia forces herself to exhale. She turns around.

His hair is a little longer, not quite the ridiculous bouffant from when she first met him, but not buzzed so close to his skull either. He’s wearing a light blue and white patterned shirt that fits incredibly well and just serves to remind her of what his body had felt like under her hands. He’s smiling, just a little, his lips curled up at the ends in the way she remembers so well but his eyes, searching her face, are hesitant.

“Nadia,” he says.

“Hello, Guzmán.” She takes one step towards him, and then another. He stands still, watching her come closer. She stops a hands-breadth away, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze. “It’s good to see you.”

“I… You…” he begins and then falls silent again, his eyes running over her face. One side of his mouth kicks up into a smile and then he laughs a little, to himself. “It’s good to see you too. I’ve missed you.”

“I know,” Nadia says. “Me too.”

“Um… Can I give you a hug?”

She smiles. “Of course, yes, you can.” She steps into his arms, easily, as though she’s been doing it all her life, and as he wraps her close to him, tucking his face into her neck and inhaling, Nadia feels like she can finally, finally relax.

Some uncounted moments later: “Soooo…do you want this club soda or no?”

Nadia jerks back and shoots a glare that could incinerate glass at her idiot brother. He smirks at her and says to both of them, “Maybe we should find a quieter place that’s not in the middle of the dance floor, eh?” He jerks his head toward the shadowed banquets at the side of the room, where Ander is already waiting for them. Guzmán grins at her, a little wryly, and they follow Omar across the club.

Nadia sinks down on the upholstered couch, which pitches toward the center when Guzmán slides down next to her, his shoulder and thigh warm against hers. She doesn’t move away and neither does he. Ander leans across the table that separates them and shouts a question to her about Columbia, her classes, how she likes the people there.

“People are really nice, for the most part,” Nadia replies. “My English is so awesome now.”

“Oh really? Better than mine?” Guzmán says, raising a brow in challenge. “Let’s hear it.”

“Okay. You are still a dick,” Nadia says in English, smiling brightly at him, and Omar and Ander collapse on each other in hysterics.

Guzmán blinks and then a wide smile breaks across his face. “So now you’ll swear in English, but not Spanish?”

“I swear,” Nadia protests.

“Rarely.”

He nudges her companionably and she rolls her eyes at him, turning back to ask Ander how well he thinks Omar is fitting in at Las Encinas.

“Well, better than you three did, back in the day.”

“It helps that I’m less of a—what did you call me? A dick,” Guzmán says, amusement in his voice.

“True,” Ander agrees.

“Tell me more about tennis,” Nadia says and Omar groans theatrically before beginning to talk about how merciless Ander is.Guzmán is a solid weight beside her and Omar and Ander bicker happily across from her and the music pulses dizzily in the background. Yes. This.

*

“Lu seems like she’s doing well,” Guzmán says later, after Omar and Ander have taken themselves off to find a quiet corner to make out in.

“Being out of Spain is good for her, I think,” Nadia says. “She doesn’t have to be Lucrecia Montesinos Hendrich. She can just be Lu.”

“I told her she could stay with us over the break, but she didn’t want to come back.”

“I know,” Nadia says. “I offered the same. She says she wants to experience a New York Christmas. And she’s not alone. Malick’s there, and some of our other friends.”

Guzmán’s lips curl up in something not quite amusement. “And how is Malick?”

She thumps him on the leg. “He’s fine. He’s dating a guy from Canada.”

“Really?”

She rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to pretend like you care. Anyways, Lu’s staying at his place over the break. It’ll be nice. His beds are way better than the ones in the dorms.”

Guzmán sighs, leaning back. “You know, I never understood why you forgave her. But I’m glad you did.”

Nadia raises a brow. “I forgave you, much earlier too.”

He mock leers at her. “You just wanted access to my body.”

She laughs. “You’ve figured me out, Guzmán.” She sobers and sighs. “What she did, releasing the video… It was horrible of her. I’m lucky I didn’t have more doors closed to me because of it. But we talked about it, about all of it, this semester. We are much more that just our worst impulses.” Nadia turns to face him fully. “And I know you understand this, because you forgave Polo, at the end.”

“He was dying.”

She shrugs. “The Guzmán of a year ago wouldn’t have cared about that. But you’ve changed, too. We all have.”

Guzmán twists so he’s facing her as well, propping one elbow up on the couch behind her head. “I wasn’t going to…I know this isn’t…but I can’t…”

She looks at him patiently.

“I’m still… I’m in love with you, Nadia,” he says. “I love you, I…” He closes his eyes and breathes deeply. “But I want you to have this—to have New York. To live your life without anything holding you back, weighing you down. I want you to be able to do what you want, I don’t want to be a distraction. I, I can’t…”

“Guzmán,” Nadia says gently. He stops speaking and looks at her. “When have you ever known me to let you or anyone get in the way of what I want?”

“I…”

“I thought you were pulling away from _me_ ,” Nadia says. “And I understood, honestly—the last couple years have been…Anyone might have wanted to start over again.”

“You were my fresh start,” Guzmán says, leaning towards her. “You’ve always been… But still, I didn’t want you to feel like you had to… I’ll wait as long as you need. As long as it’s still what you want.”

“I _told_ you I was coming back for you,” Nadia says.

“Yes, but—”

“Stop talking,” Nadia orders. “We’re here now. Can’t we just…” She trails off, biting her lip. He hesitates, studying her face and then reaches out with one hand to trace the line of her cheekbone. His thumb sweeps across her bottom lip. She opens her lips and sucks his thumb into her mouth, her eyes on his, and he exhales forcefully, his own lips parting. His hand slips down to cup her jaw and then she closes her eyes and he kisses her.

*

Much later, Nadia turns to him and says, “Guzmán, what are you doing for spring break?”

**


End file.
